flowers

Hello Stampin Friends! It’s been a busy weekend so far as we celebrated my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary. The party was a huge success and we had so much fun! But I have to tell ya…I am exhausted! So my hubby and I decided to take it easy and relax today. Of course, the best way for me to relax is to get creative. So I did!

I really am hooked on watercoloring lately. I love the look of it especially as the backdrop for my projects. This particular card was created with the new Flirty Flowers stamp set and just one color, Rich Razzleberry, as a watercolor wash in the background. I also learned a new technique when I created this card. If you stamp your images on the watercolored background, while it is still a little wet, the moisture “blurs” the image a bit. I had often wondered how others had achieved that look on their cards so I was super excited to accidentally stumble upon the technique! To make this card, you can use a 5-1/4 x 4 inch piece of watercolor paper or shimmery white. I tend to use the shimmery white for all of my watercoloring because it has a bit of glitter or “”shimmer” to it. Simply grab any color ink that you like, add a drop to two to a little painters tray and then dip the tip of an aqua painter into it. Then, using the aqua painter, randomly add brush strokes of color to your cardstock. While the watercoloring is still a bit wet, stamp your images on the background. If you do not like the blurred image look, simply let the watercolored background dry and then stamp your images. For the finishing touch, add some embellishments!

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Hello Stampin’ Friends! I hope you are planning some fun, crafty things for this weekend! Today I want to share some pretty little cards that were actually inspired by this month’s Paper Pumpkin kit called Bunny Buddies. Now you might be wondering why that kit inspired these cards? Well the kit contained these beautiful colors and some fun bunny ears. I actually took the bunny ears, cut off the tip, and used them to create a little flower pot! Fun, hey? You can accomplish the same thing but trimming down an “oval” shape so that it’s flat on the top and bottom (instead of pointy).

The idea for the color combo used on these cards came from the Playful Palette Designer Series Paper pack. Sweet Sugarplum and Peakaboo Peach work so well together! The green leaves were stamped with Always Artichoke. You will choose a color for your card base: either a piece of Sweet Sugarplum or Peekaboo Peach cardstock. Hint: I used the same color cardstock for the base of my card as I did to stamp the flower image.

Cut a piece of Sweet Sugarplum for the base of the card. Cut two (2) 1 x 5-1/4 inch pieces of the Peekaboo Peach colored pattern from the Playful Palette DSP pack. Adhere them to each side of the cardfront; about 1/4 inch away from the side (so that you have some of the Sweet Sugarplum cardstock showing). Cut a 3 x 5-1/4 inch piece of Whisper White cardstock. This is the piece you will do your stamping on. Using the images from the Garden in Bloom stamp set, stamp the stem of the flower first, using Always Artichoke (or some type of green ink). Stamp the leaves. Then stamp the flower using Sweet Sugarplum ink. Cut out a medium sized oval from the same patterned paper that you used for the sides of the card, snip off the top and bottom so that it resembles a flower pot. Adhere it over the stem. Adhere the entire white piece in the center of your card front and overlapping it onto the 1 inch pieces of DSP. For the finishing touch, add a little sentiment and a few enamel dots! Enjoy!

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Hello Stampin’ Friends! I am soooo excited to share this project with you today! In case you may not know, I love vintage and antiques so that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the Builder Birdcage set in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog! I have lots of ideas for this set but one of the things I really wanted to do with the Birdcage was put flowers in it! Yes, I know it’s suppose to have birds but I think you will really like the flowery look much better 🙂

To make this card, start with a piece of Soft Suede cardstock for the base of the card. Cut a 3-1/2 x 4-3/4 inch piece of Mint Macaron cardstock and a 3 x 4-3/4 inch piece of Whisper White cardstock. On the white cardstock, stamp the three images to create the birdcage; use Soft Suede ink. Next, grab one of your favorite flowery stamp sets. I recommend using a set that has small flowers. I used the new host set called Thankful Life. There are three images in the set that, when stamped together, create a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Stamp each of the three images in a different color; I used Bermuda Bay, Mint Macaron and So Saffron. Stamp a little sentiment on the white cardstock. Adhere the Mint Macaron and White cardstock pieces on the Soft Suede card front as shown (offset them a bit for a fun look). For the finishing touch, embellish the birdcage with some small pearls. Enjoy!

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Hello Stampin’ Friends! My grandson spent the weekend with us and, of course, when he wanted to play around in my craft room I was all for it! 🙂 While he was busy creating his masterpiece, I was playing around with one of my own! One of my grandson’s favorite thing to do is to use the “cutter” and the big shot! So I took advantage of this and had him cut out several pieces of cardstock with the big shot. He was a huge help and now I have a bunch of different shapes I can use throughout the week! Once we were done cutting out pieces, we did some stamping. Here is my stamped project 🙂

To make this card, start with a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock for the base of your card. Cut a 5-1/4 x 4 inch piece of Whisper White cardstock to stamp on. Grab the Oh So Succulent stamp set and the following ink colors: Sweet Sugarplum, Peekaboo Peach, So Saffron, Pear Pizazz, and Crumb Cake. Randomly stamp the images on the white cardstock to create your own patterned paper! Once you have a design that you like, simply cut out a few different sized ovals (or any other shape) from Crumb Cake, Sweet Sugarplum and Whisper White so that you can layer them together. Stamp a little sentiment on the white one. Cut a few different styles of ribbon and adhere them to the center of your card. Then simply adhere the layered sentiment over the top of the ribbon! Easy peasy!

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Hello Stampin’ Friends! I had a wonderful weekend filled with “me” time which translates into stampin’ time! It’s not often that I have an entire weekend to myself so I definitely took advantage of it! And that means I have a lot of fun projects to share with all of you! Today’s project showcases the Special Reason Bundle from the Occasions Catalog. This particular bundle of products comes with a stamp set and coordinating thinlits. That means you don’t have to cut anything out by hand!

To make this card, start with a piece of Whisper White cardstock for the base of your card. Cut a 5-1/4 x 4 inch piece of Sweet Sugarplum cardstock. Randomly stamp some of the flower and leaf images from the Special Reason stamp set all over the Sweet Sugarplum cardstock using Sweet Sugarplum ink and adhere to the front of your card with SNAIL adhesive. Just a little tip: By using the same color ink as the cardstock, it provides a very subtle background for your project. Cut a 3 x 4 inch piece of Whisper White cardstock. Cut out the large flower on the top of the cardstock using the Stylish Stems Framelits set and an embossing machine such as the Big Shot. Stamp a little sentiment on the bottom of the white cardstock using Sahara Sand ink. Take a 2-3/4 x 2-3/4 inch piece of one of the pink flowery patterns from the Blooms & Bliss Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. Adhere the DSP to the back of the white cardstock so it shows through the space you cut out the flower. For the finishing touch, tie a little bow from some Sweet Sugarplum ribbon and adhere it across the white cardstock as shown. Adhere to your card with dimensionals. Enjoy!

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Hello Stampin’ Friends! Hope you had a wonderful week! Today I have a pretty card idea to share with all of you! It showcases a great way to use your patterned papers! I have a lot of patterned papers from the neutral color collection so I had to figure out a way to start using it all! One of the best ways to use neutral patterned papers is to add a “pop” of color.

To make this card, start with a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock for the base of the card. Cut a 5-1/4 x 4 inch piece of Basic Black cardstock. Cut a 3 x 4 inch piece of one of the black patterned papers and adhere it to the black cardstock as shown. Cut a 5″ piece of Very Vanilla 1/2″ Lace Trim and adhere it to the left side of the patterned paper; wrap the excess to the back of the black cardstock and adhere the entire piece to the card front. Cut a 3-1/2 x 2-3/4 inch piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. Stamp the flower image using Daffodil Delight ink. Stamp a little sentiment underneath the flower using black ink. For the finishing touch, embellish with a little piece of a doily and a few pearls.